Crowley’s solutions group expands in Asia

Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Crowley Maritime Corp.’s solutions group will increase its activity in the Asia-Pacific market by opening a new project management office in Singapore and building two new heavy-lift deck cargo barges for dedicated use in the region.
The Jacksonville, Fla.-based company also has an option for the construction of two additional barges.
Crowley said its expansion in Asia-Pacific will allow it to better support customers in the oil and gas mining and shippers with large project cargo handling requirements.
“This move not only allows us to broaden our geographical reach, but will also allow for more efficient turnkey solutions within the areas in which our customers are focused,” said Craig Tornga, Crowley's vice president of solutions, in a statement. “It is also important for us to be able to support the operation and market growth with dedicated equipment, which is why we are investing in the construction of two new barges for the region.”
The group’s two new 400-foot-long, 120-foot-wide heavylift deck (HDB) barges, to be named HDB 01 and HDB 02, will be positioned in Batam, Indonesia, to support customers with marine projects. The barges will have 25-foot side shells, which provide both the capacity and deck strength (up to 4,200 pounds per square foot) needed to accommodate larger drilling and production units used for deep-water offshore energy exploration and development, Crowley said.
Additionally, the HDB series barges are designed with more robust ballast systems to deal with high tidal ranges found in the region’s load and discharge ports, and with the internal strength to withstand setting on bottom of the seabed while loaded if so dictated by shallow discharge ports where tidal movement may be problematic.
The barges will be ABS-classed, with an approximate dead weight capacity of 20,000 metric tons. Both were designed by Crowley's naval architecture and mariner engineering subsidiary Jensen Maritime, and are currently under construction in China. They are scheduled for delivery in early 2014.